Larian Studios has confirmed that a Baldur's Gate 3 Xbox port is in development, but that a technical snag related to splitscreen co-op is preventing it from being officially announced.
During yesterday's State of Play, Larian Studios announced that Baldur's Gate 3 is launching on PS5 alongside the PC version on August 31. Somewhat conspicuously, it still hasn't been confirmed for Xbox platforms. Now, a Larian spokesperson tells GamesRadar+ that an Xbox Series X/S version has been in development, but it's on hold while the developers figure out how to make splitscreen co-op work.
"Following yesterday’s PS5 and release date announcement, we’ve clarified that right now, we’re planning to release Baldur’s Gate 3 for PC, Mac, GeForce NOW and PS5. That said, we have no exclusivity for which platforms we can bring BG3 to, or when, and will announce support for additional platforms if and when we’re ready," reads the refreshingly candid statement we received.
"We’re seeing a lot of varied interpretations of what that means, so we wanted to clarify further. We’ve had an Xbox version of Baldur’s Gate 3 in development for some time now. We’ve run into some technical issues in developing the Xbox port that have stopped us feeling 100% confident in announcing it until we’re certain we’ve found the right solutions – specifically, we’ve been unable to get splitscreen co-op to work to the same standard on both Xbox Series X and S, which is a requirement for us to ship."
According to Larian, there is no contract or agreement preventing it from releasing Baldur's Gate 3 on Xbox on the same day as other platforms "should that be a technical possibility." Essentially, unless this whole splitscreen mess gets sorted out behind the scenes, there's a good chance the Xbox version of Baldur's Gate 3 will never see the light of day. "If and when we do announce further platforms, we want to make sure each version lives up to our standards & expectations."
For more, read up on how Baldur's Gate 3 will bring the magic of D&D back to gaming in 2023.
